Jury Duty

[blueberryraspberrypie]

I’m in Scotland so kids off school.

im due to start jury service on Monday (not needed on Monday though) and my mum is taking my kids Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. My DH is off Friday and Monday.

beyond this I have no childcare. My MIL could have taken them but in the period between me accepting the jury service and it starting she’s had COVID and is now not fit for it.

what can I do if I’m picked and any trial is slated to last longer than next Monday. I’m having a mild panic here.

I understand that, call the court, but they might expect you to look for childcare this week.

Just tell them when you are there

I will do @Cascais

i don’t have any proof my MIL had covid since we don’t have PCR tests?

@lolil is your aim to stress the OP out completely as you are doing a great job.

Any time i've gone for just selection someone comes into the room beforehand and asks everyone who has a reason for not wanting to do it to form a queue and let them know. I'm sure they'll let you go.

No not at all, but realistically OP has a week to find childcare, so they may tell her to do so.

I'm sorry if this has caused any stress OP.

Worst case your DH will have to take time off to look after the kids, if it goes on longer

Try not to worry OP. You’re not the first and won’t be the last person in this position

It’s ok @lolil you’re a bit blunt but I’m sure you mean well 😂

I didn't mean to be, apologises.

Just go and explain it as you have said here. You had childcare sorted but it has fallen through due to ill health. They will deal with this sort of issue constantly. Everyone in the court was very lovely when I did my jury duty and as a pp said they want people who can really concentrate on the case. There is usually an excess of potential jurors to choose from any way.

Just phone the number. They won't get pissed off as you haven't got half way through a trial or somethinf

I am not in Scotland but do have some involvement with Jury selection in another country so may be similar. I would say the people on that phone have heard every single excuse under the sun. I don't mean that in a rude way because I know you are genuine but they just get so many calls with so many excuses. Your best bet is to show up day one and if you are selected tell the judge you are happy to serve for x days but after that it's just not possible. If they think the case will run longer he/she will excuse you because you are there and willing to serve and really you are being fair. I wouldn't worry too much about it though

I recently did jury service
You might not even be called - over half the jurors on my first week weren't called, there were 50 of us on the Monday and everyone who wasn't called up just got sent home by the Thursday.
The trial I got called for went on over 2 weeks and one juror said from the get go she had childcare issues for second week, the judge excused her when it became apparent the trial was going on for longer and i don't think it's uncommon for that to happen and she'd already made them aware. You just need to explain to the court admin (I can't remember their official name) on your first day - and then you'd just tell the usher if your name gets called that you no longer have childcare for the second week.

Thanks everyone. I’ll definitely be there for the first week.

i spoke to my mum who can help on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the week after but after that im screwed.

You can but they don't always pay the full amount when my husband did it we still ended up out of pocket they paid £400 for the childcare but cost us £500 for the 3 Weeks he was on jury duty.

I think you should talk to them on Monday morning.

I wouldn't worry, the courts are usually very reasonable in excusing people from jury service. Yes they could demand that you organise alternative childcare but in all likelihood they will understand that the summer holidays are not a good time for those with childcare responsibilities. You could also mention that you would be more than happy to do it out with the school holidays.